Asus C301 Chromebook with 1080p screen coming soon

Asus has added a new 13 inch Chromebook to its line of laptops featuring Google’s Chrome operating system.

The new Asus C301 Chromebook features 4GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 1920 x 1080 pixel display, and an Intel Celeron N3160 quad-core processor. It’s listed on the Asus Store website as “coming soon” for $279.

Other features include 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. It has an 48 Wh battery and an HD camera.

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With Android apps coming into the fold I think 32GB should be the new minimum storage and 4GB RAM should probably also be minimum.

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Why? There is no indication that Chromebook users are suddenly going to load up their systems with dozens of apps. It’s not as though they’re going to come pre-loaded as they are on smart phones.

In any case, price is extremely important at this end of the market, and margins are already tight. If the demand comes, the manufacturers will adjust accordingly soon enough. (Same with touchscreens, which are even more expensive.)

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Yes, they can always just release a variant of the model with tweaked specs.

Many already do, offering differences like between HD and FHD screens, 2 or 4 GB of RAM, etc.

This model isn’t even out yet, so we don’t know if Asus will be offering any variants but they easily could…

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As long as these companies keep announcing 13″ 1080p 4GB Chromebooks with terrible Atom-based CPU’s instead of Core-based, then the Toshiba Chromebook 2 & Dell will remain best in class.

Storage should definitely be bumped up to 32GB, but luckily Android apps can be installed via SD.

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The Atom/Celeron chips actually work well enough for Chromebook tasks. It simply is true. Especially a quad core one like this

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Well, the price would double, at least, with Core, so I’m cool with them not being used in a low-price segment…

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Uh, no…Not always… Core does have a processor advantage, upwards to 50% at the same clock speed, but Core based Celerons can be crippled enough to perform worse than some ATOM based Celerons.

Like comparing a dual core, low clocked, Core based Celeron to a quad core ATOM based Celeron and the ATOM can then come out on top in at least multi-threaded processing applications.

Besides, someone needs to look up which is which because the Toshiba Chromebook 2 comes with a N2840, which is a ATOM based Celeron… Worse, it’s dual core and thus is low performing SoC, even for a ATOM…

Not to mention it’s a Bay Trail Gen ATOM, which means older Gen 7 GPU instead of the Gen 8 in the newer Braswell that supports 50% to 2x better graphics performance.

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The new Dell Chromebook 13

Very Similar to the Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2015) but made of metal.

They are by far the best mid range Chromebooks on the market (Pixel being the only highend).

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Thanks… Guess we are talking about the 7130 model. I wonder how Linux would do in a 4GB, 16GB setup… CPU wouldn’t be an issue.

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If you like the Toshiba, might want to get one while the getting’s good.

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amen. I bet the display is just as crappy as the CPU. race to the bottom.

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Yes and no. The newest version of the Toshiba Chromebook 2 uses either a Intel Celeron 3215U or Intel Core i3-5015U 2.1 GHz Processor.

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Neither are the 2015 version and ignores the $30 to $120 price difference…

The core Celeron 3215U is also only duo core and 1.7GHz… So the quad core ATOM is about equivalent with a bit faster clock speed and twice the number of cores… But with better battery life and lower cost…

Keep in mind that the Asus will be starting at $279 and will invariably drop to a even lower price after launch… Just like the 3215U version has already dropped a bit…

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Both are available in the 2015 version, and the 3215U is only $15 more than this Asus. Having used the N and U processors in Chromebooks, the Ns are definitely weaker performers.

That being said, I’d still pick this Asus over the Toshiba for two reasons: 1.) Toshiba doesn’t make consumer laptops anymore and 2.) The Toshiba Chromebook was built like a plastic piece of junk.

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Maybe late 2015 but not at launch… The price is also higher at launch than $15… You’re comparing to the already discounted pricing!

While that doesn’t change anything of what has been stated… One note, Asus isn’t always known for best build quality and the more expensive version of the Toshiba is suppose to have a bit better quality than the original release…

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Damned if you do, damned if you don’t; you’re asking for higher-end specs, but the better the specs get, the higher the price will be.

Not many are going to pay $500+ for a Chromebook because it has a better processor or an IPS QHD screen (many have tried already and failed).

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Looks good, but for that price why not 32gb of storage? Is Asus afraid of being sued by the WinTel conspiracy?

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Don’t know, but Google should want to keep the storage too small for a good Windows install. Because its their operating system, they get to set the rules.

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No, just very constraining… W10 with full compression can fit in a drive under 10GB… You just won’t have any room to install much of any apps without resorting to a SD card but that should be doable now.

Helps that it no longer needs a separate recovery partition and updates replace previous files instead of adding to them…

But Chromebook BIOS/FW usually prevents Windows installs anyway… Better off just booting a Linux desktop distro off a USB or Crouton… Most will fit in a drive under 8GB and leave a lot more space left for apps and files…

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You’re kidding right because this is a Chromebook! First, that price is still cheap for what it offers… It’s barely higher than a ARM based Chromebook would be with those same specs, it’s actually cheaper than the first ARM based Chromebook was, and a Windows Laptop with those specs would be well over $300… Second, the design of a Chromebook is ultimately to help Google profit… Google doesn’t profit from the sale of the Chromebook, that goes to their hardware partners, and they’re basically giving the OS away for free but Google is still a for profit business… So the design of the product has to promote ways for Google to profit, which is through the users using their apps and services, including cloud storage and especially if the user needs more than the free amount and actually pays a subscription fee for extra storage… Never mind all the indirect… Read more »

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Not enough at this stage. Needs 32gb to handle Android apps comfortably. And at a minimum a 100% color gamut, good Delta E monitor or it’s not even in the same field as the Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2015).

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Not all Chromebooks are going to support Android apps, for one thing it’ll need a touch screen first and even then not all Android apps are going to support Chromebooks anymore than they would anything else that isn’t a Smart Phone, and the 1920 x 1080-pixel screen puts the Toshiba Chromebook 2 at $329, vs $279 for this Asus! The $249 version of the Toshiba doesn’t have a IPS screen and is only HD resolution… but even the FHD/IPS version only has 98.5% color gamut accuracy, not 100%, and a Delta-E score of 1 (0 is best)… Besides, pretty much all other Chromebooks have far worse screens, so you’re comparing to a idea that isn’t standard or realistic to expect from a low budget priced product… You’re also missing other details like performance, the Toshiba uses a Intel Celeron N2840. But that’s only dual core and based on ATOM architecture… Read more »

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It’s not the same user experience and most mobile apps are optimized for a touch interface… So using a touch app without a touch screen makes as much sense as trying to use a desktop app without a keyboard and mouse…

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Chromebooks won’t need Touch Screen for Android Support. Google released a a list of 62 existing Chromebook model that are getting Android support.Android N has New Mouse API so Developers can add Left Clip,Right Click etc, Multi Touch Gesture.Even if they don’t Android Apps are still usable with Non Touch device. Look at Million of People using Andy or Bluestack to run Android Apps in Windows.Beside Windows Metro Apps are another example, they are mostly designed for touch but fully workable with Touchpad

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Sorry but that’s vaporware arguement… For example, Android had supported tablets since Honey Comb but even now the majority of all Android apps are designed for phones! Even now you can go on the Play Store and be denied a app because it’s made for a phone and not a tablet or vice versa. While it’s going to take awhile before most move onto N… So at best you’re argument is only valid for what may happen a few years from now but until then we have to deal with the present reality… Android apps work best with touch screens and that’s not going to change very soon… Google doesn’t have the strict control over the ecosystem that Apple does… It took years longer for Android to switch to 64bit than Apple did, for example. Another example is Android has supported a hidden desktop mode for years now but aside… Read more »

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Toshiba Chromebook 2 (2015) runs intel celeron 3215U processor. That should be the game changer here.

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Nope, the Core i3 is the one that blows them both away…

Keep in mind the Celeron/Pentium is Intel’s budget range… So the chips either start out low range or they’re crippled/low clocked to justify the budget pricing.

Before ATOM based Celeron/Pentium Intel even crippled them more than they do now… So the ATOM helped justify lessening those restrictions.

For example, core based Celerons’ used to not offer features like QuickSync support… Among other limitations…

But you’re still far more likely to see a quad core ATOM Celeron than a Core based one…Limiting the otherwise clear advantage they would have…

Though, the difference is clear with the dual core ATOMs vs the dual core Core Celerons…

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Can I just ask you the question, between the Toshiba C2 (2015) and ^ Asus C301, which one are you leaning for?

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Depends on what you prefer… For price the Asus seems the better deal, barring any issues on build quality and battery life that we won’t find out until it is out and reviewed…

For performance, the c2 with Core i3 will run anything you can throw at it but price gets close to $400… But the high quality screen, good speakers, backlit keyboard, and performance difference can make it worth it…

The Asus screen may not be as good but it’s still FHD at a price most Chromebooks still offer only HD… Like the $249 version of the C2 is HD/TN, but that’s close to ARM Chromebook pricing for the lowest price they’re going to offer for any newish model…

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I see. Thanks, just had a curious question. 🙂 I might be getting the c2 running 3215U

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Just make sure it has 4GB RAM and the FHD/IPS screen then… The version with the N2840 is the one to avoid…

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I agree 16gb ain’t enough storage. Yet, 32gb “Edu” Chromebooks are rare and overpriced. It must be a legal restriction put on Chromebooks because of a lawsuit by WinTel.

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I agree 16gb ain’t enough storage. Yet, 32gb “Edu” Chromebooks are rare and overpriced. It must be a legal restriction put on Chromebooks because of restrictions set by Google“

There, fixed it for you!

No one but Google has the power to dictate how Chromebooks are made… Just like they do with Nexus devices…

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